Dendrodoris fumata ( Rueppell & Leuckart, 1830)

Yonow, Nathalie, 2012, Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 197, pp. 1-130 : 40

Dendrodoris fumata ( Rueppell & Leuckart, 1830) Plate 56

Doris fumata Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830: 29, pl. 8, fig. 2 (Red Sea).

Dendrodoris rubra (Kelaart). - Edmunds 1971: 386, fig. 22 and references therein (Tanzania).

Dendrodoris sp. - Yonow & Hayward 1991:26, figs. 8G-I (Mauritius).

Dendrodoris fumata . - Brodie et al. 1997: 413 and references therein except black form (= arborescens Collingwood) (Tanzania); Yonow 2008: 211 (Red Sea); Apte et al. 2010: 18, fig. 2g (India).

Material.

Socotra: 17 × 10 mm pres. (IT-177, RJ-032), 12°41.326'N, 54°05.175'E, 14 April 1999, leg. R Janssen. - Persian Gulf: four pres. specimens 17 × 10 mm, 15 × 12 mm, 16 × 10 mm, and 9 × 5 mm, Rescue Centre, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, 09 December 1991, leg. D Fiege; photographs of one individual, Dahwat al Musallamiya, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, 25 November 1991, F Krupp. - La Réunion: photographs of four individuals http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm.

Description.

Both Dendrodoris nigra and Dendrodoris fumata are found in similar habitats in the western Indian Ocean, and both species are present in these collections. Two colour forms occur in the Indo-West Pacific, a grey form and an orange/red form, the latter being much more common in the Indian Ocean (pers. obs., Brodie et al. 1997). As there were no colour photographs accompanying these specimens but photographs of uncollected individuals from the same region (Plate 56), identification is based on the morphology and colour in preservative, considerably different from that of Dendrodoris nigra (see also discussion for Dendrodoris nigra below) and other dendrodorids (see below). The Dendrodoris fumata specimens are contracted and semi-translucent; one is slightly lumpy but they are otherwise smooth and domed with a wide mantle skirt.

A third species of Dendrodoris is present in the Persian Gulf material: the preserved animals are very different from both Dendrodoris fumata and Dendrodoris nigra , but there are no notes or photographs of the living material for adequate comparison or identification (Abu Ali, 28 March 1992). In preservative, these two specimens measure 10 × 8 mm and 15 × 9 mm. They are both translucent beige-yellow and may have been pustular (? possibly Dendrodoris coronata Kay & Young). Both have very prominent raised rhinophoral and branchial sheaths; the smaller specimen has 9 extended simply pinnate gills and the rhinophoral pockets are crumpled in both specimens. Ventrally, the foot is broad and squared anteriorly with two laminae, and the ridge-like oral tentacles meet medially as in all dendrodorids.